This invention relates to waterbeds and more particularly to draining the water from waterbed mattresses.
Waterbed mattresses are known to provide many advantages in terms of comfort and restfulness. However, these mattresses are relatively heavy. As a result, from time to time it may become necessary to drain a waterbed mattress (when it is desired to move the waterbed to a new location, for example).
Conventionally, this has been done using a siphon device based in part on the venturi principle. This siphon device, called a drain pump or adapter is a separate plastic part which attaches to a water faucet. This adapter includes three ports. One is attached to the water faucet, one is a drain port, and the third is adapted to attach to a conventional garden hose. In use the other end of the garden hose is attached to the drain/fill valve of the waterbed mattress.
Water from the faucet flows through the adapter and, by means of the venturi effect, generates a partial vacuum in the adapter by the third port. This vacuum thereby acts through the garden hose to evacuate water from the waterbed mattress.
These conventional drain pumps can be improved. For example, these pumps are a separate piece which is relatively small and easily lost. It is quite common for the drain pumps to be lost because mattresses are drained relatively infrequently. In addition, since the drain/fill valve of the waterbed mattress is conventionally on the top of the mattress, the presently available drain pumps have difficulty draining the mattresses completely. Water in the bottom of the mattress or in anti-wave material such as fiber batting inside the mattress is very difficult to remove since the conventional drain pumps must work against gravity or similar forces to remove the water. As a result, the waterbed mattress, even when drained, retains so much water that it is still relatively heavy and somewhat difficult to pumps take an undesirably long time to drain a waterbed mattress.